Case Study: Empower Supply & Service - Cannabis Distribution

At the end of 2016 the market was ready and transitioning towards large scale cannabis distribution gaining control over the market between the B2B marketplace. Looking to engage and empower the market, Dandy Solutions had a goal of creating a CRM and online marketplace for their brands and customers to seamlessly transition from farm to storefront. They came to us looking for assistance with their branding and marketing, where we were able to provide a solid foundation for the brand and it's services to use.

Goals

Starting from scratch is always intimidating. We aimed to first establish the branding for Empower Supply & Service, the name selected by our client. Once their branding was locked in, we developed their pre-launch site to begin acquiring more clients for their new CRM. Then we prepared tools for the newly formed team to engage the cannabis community appropriately.

The Brief

The brief was concise and short. Create a logo that is logo text focused with a smaller secondary logo mark. They wanted to feel like the logo was emanating energy, feel like it’s gaining mass.

Round 1

Round one lead with simple straight forward concepts.

Round 2

The director was content with elements from the second and third option for the logos & wanted to integrate the two.

assortment from proposed variations.

Round 3

Once we decided on the logo mark primary shapes when then refined and married it with the appropriate text as well.

The Refinement.Proposed compositions & styles for the business cards.

Colors and Brand Book

The color scheme from the very beginning was selected when the first logo was proposed, it was adopted from the first choice in design. And the brand book was being developed simultaneously with the business cards- the sales team was in dire need to start their visits & meetings.

Additional Variants & Color Schemes for Business CardsWithin the brand book we included guidelines for interior paperwork, etiquette for the sales team, apparel that later was embroidered for events. This also included guides for future designers working with the brand and how to appropriately handle the logo.

Newsletters

Once the sales team had begun aggregating contacts and connections with different brands and dispensaries, we started with the Fire Sales. The Fire Sales began as a newsletter campaign, then turned text messaging campaign. It was used to move high quantity sales of medical cannabis to processors or storefronts. We used the team's CRM, Microsoft Dynamics 365, to schedule the campaigns.

Catalog

While trying to create the most efficient pitch deck for our sales team out in the field, relying on digital devices wasn’t always appropriate. The Winter 2016 (and eventually Spring 2017) catalog was a quarterly B2B booklet featuring the biggest and best products on our line-- over 20 pages of cannabis products. These were "leave behinds" with our sales sheets as inserts for managers to fill out, snap and send to our team. The catalog was also simultaneously released as a digital version, which we were able to update for stock changes or new releases.

Social Media Campaigns

While collaborating with the team's in-house designer it became aware to me that there was extra training necessary. There I created the Social Media Common Practices + Guidelines. This helped aid the team designer when he would handle posting and monitoring etiquette on the official social media accounts. This was also for the entire sales team, who maintained their own official team Instagram profiles. There needed to be cohesion in their message, behavior, and posting practices.

In addition to the Guidelines for Posting & Interaction, we laid the foundation for their campaign scheduling. We utilized the famous sticky note method to help organize the groups thoughts. Teaching the team what to look for in a campaign, how to follow through the announcement, minor updates, newsletter campaigns and text blasts. Or how to remain visible and not annoying with the message. For each upcoming event, we would build out at least a two week campaign to advertise our presence - as well as provide the community with a little bit more in the form of sales or additional promotion for our hosted brands.

I created a series of social media graphics that advertised the brand's presence, and affiliate companies, at the upcoming event. The in-house designer handled the daily scheduling of each post.

Pre-Launch Website

Through my style guide, my partner Oscar was able to utilize my visual direction for the company, embracing the Sierra Nevada aesthetic and my color scheme.

Empower launched a new site in 2017 built by the in-house team, which now features elements of our branding.

Finale

Building a cannabis business with zero prior established branding is a unique opportunity. No foundation- all built from the ground up. An excellent opportunity we hope to experience again soon. If you are interested in receiving the full brand treatment or help coordinating your team for successful branding & advertising campaignsplease contact us for opportunities.

Rebecca

Rebecca is a professional freelance designer and social media marketer. Graduate with a Bachelors of Fine Arts from one of the top 10 public universities in the US.

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Stay Regular is a design agency located in Southern California that specializes in cannabis design and media. Our focus is to elevate the standard of design associated with the cannabis community. We cater the digital experience around the end user, developing intuitive and engaging media and applications. We bring your ideas to life - for companies at every stage of growth, from startups to publicly-traded companies.